A 4.6-magnitude earthquake northwest of Malibu Friday afternoon sent widespread aftershocks from the coast to inland parts of Southern California.
The quake was reported just before 2 p.m. about 7 miles northwest of Malibu in the Santa Monica Mountains. More than a dozen aftershocks of magnitudes 3.0 and 2.7 were reported in the same area within an hour.
“It's got a very strong aftershock sequence,” said seismologist Dr Lucy Jones, adding that the likelihood of the quake being a foreshock to a larger seismic event is diminishing rapidly over time.
Shaking Across the greater Los Angeles area, as many as 12 million people reported. The quake was felt from coastal LA, Orange and Ventura counties, including the South Bay and Long Beach, to inland areas such as the San Fernando Valley, downtown LA, Riverside, Irvine and Anaheim.
Light shaking was also felt in parts of northern San Diego County.
Marla Dailey felt the tremors while working at a Thousand Oaks dental office.
Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones discusses the Friday, February 9, 2024, earthquake in and around Malibu, Southern California.
“It was a big shock,” Dailey said. “We all figured out what was going on. The patients are fine, and they've continued their dentistry. It's always a little nerve-wracking.”
There were no immediate reports of significant damage. The Los Angeles Fire Department A damage survey after a high-magnitude earthquake was conducting a standard procedure.
The US National Tsunami Warning Center reported no tsunami.
The region has a series of seismic faults, but Jones said the quake was most likely on the Malibu Coast Fault, which runs along the coast in the Santa Monica Mountains. The fault lies near the communities of Pacific Palisades, Westwood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. Its eastern end meets the Santa Monica Fault
This earthquake falls on the same date as the 6.5 1971 San Fernando earthquake. That historic quake killed dozens of people, caused more than $500 million in property damage and raised fears of a catastrophic dam collapse. Its origin was in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles, but tremors were felt across a wide swath of the San Fernando Valley.
Also on Friday, a 5.7-magnitude earthquake on Hawaii's Big Island shook Oahu, including Honolulu, about 200 miles away. That quake was not associated with seismic activity in Southern California.